<p>My ratio is 9:3:1. (reach:match:safety) I’m expecting to get into my matches and safeties and at least 2 of my reaches.</p>
<p>How do you tell the difference between a match and a reach?</p>
<p>IMO:</p>
<p>Reach = ~5-20% acceptance rate
Match = ~20-35% acceptance rate</p>
<p>At safeties your grades and test scores are high above the median, at matches they’re at the median, and at reaches they’re below the median or they’re ivies.</p>
<p>How do schools know if you visited? Do they look you up? How are the files organized? (what do you think)</p>
<p>IMO, the distinction between a reach and a match doesn’t matter. Either way you might get in and you might not, and the percentages don’t mean a lot.
But it’s not about the acceptance rate for everyone…it’s about your individual chances, which you’ll have to figure out yourself. A school that is a reach for one person could be a safety for another.</p>
<p>In my estimation:</p>
<p>Reach/match = 0-99% chance of acceptance
Safety = As close to a 100% chance as humanly possible. Must be affordable.</p>
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<p>The most selective university in the United States isn’t part of the Ivy League.
Most selective colleges in the U.S. have holistic admissions processes, so you can’t determine safeties just by grades/test scores.</p>
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<p>They don’t know if you just decided to come to campus one day and walk around. A lot of colleges have formal tours and information sessions, and I imagine they keep records of who attended. You sign up in advance.</p>
<p>Ivies or ivy equivalent. And that’s just how I classify them for the purpose of this site.</p>
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<p>That doesn’t really get rid of any ambiguity, though.</p>
<p>@halcyonheather No, I meant if you visit for a formal tour. I’m just asking because a lot of my information (besides my name) has changed and if they keep records by email address, then it isn’t the same one as I’m applying to college with. I know this is weird paranoia, but I want to make sure they know I showed interest by visiting!</p>
<p>You could probably email them and tell them what stuff has changed.</p>
<p>Well, right now I have 1 safety and 15/16 reaches/matches.</p>
<p>I mean it’s just my email and cell # not my address or like social security #.</p>
<p>I have a question for my88keys and everyone else applying to 15+ schools: can you really see yourself happy at all of them?</p>
<p>I originally had 17 schools, and for each of them I said, “2 years from now, can you see yourself happy here?” I waited a month and asked this question again. If my answer was still “no” or i was hesitant, I took the college off my list.</p>
<p>Well I was hesitant for a few, but the ones I was hesitant for are my safeties and I’ve been looking and looking, but I just can’t find anymore that I like as much as the ones I have. I did say no for one and that’s UMD, my state school, but almost everyone at my school applies and gets in and my parents encourage me to, just, just in case. I have 14 schools and it will probably stay, but I’m visiting 2 in Oct and if I don’t like the visits, they’re getting dropped.</p>
<p>It’s more of my dad pressuring me to apply to a lot of schools. I would be okay taking off a few schools.</p>
<p>My ratio is 3:3:2. I understand Heather’s point about having more than one safety. Nothing is guaranteed. Applying for another safety is usually much easier than applying for another reach, so it’s worth the effort.</p>
<p>@Sparkle: That’s similar to how I group them, except my CR score is a 770 (so, >75% at many of my schools), while my M score is a 650 (so, <25% or borderline 25% at almost all of my schools), so it’s difficult to categorize a couple of them.</p>
<p>Superstarlala, same with my state school, Rutgers (my safety). </p>
<p>Actually, I’m really interested in UMD - their computer science program seems great, and I wanna get into Honors or Scholars.</p>
<p>@jibler UMD is a great school, but it’s too big for my tastes and its 15-20 minutes away from my house.</p>
<p>That’s completely understandable. That’s why I don’t wanna go to Rutgers - too many people from my high school are there, and I wanna go out of state.</p>